Sacrifice
by xteetran
Summary: Katniss Everdeen is about to be reaped again for the 75th Hunger Games. But before she enters the arena, she encounters Tris Prior in the woods. They find out that Panem and the factions are closer than they realized. Both girl's worlds are turned upside down as they discover the true meaning of bravery, selflessness, and sacrifice.
1. Nightmare

KATNISS:

When I first heard the screaming, I thought it was Prim.

She's been having nightmares, waking up in the middle of the night, with tears streaming down her face, begging to snuggle up with me on the bed. But this time it wasn't her who was having nightmares. It was me.

I wasn't really that surprised that the nightmares were from the arena. I remember desperately trying to protect Peeta; running to the Cornucopia to get his medicine. I could never forget the mutts and Cato's face before I took him out of his misery. I also distinctly remember a friend. Her name was Rue. I don't know what was worse; the fact that I couldn't save her or that she accepted her death. My name is Katniss Everdeen. I should be dead. I survived the 74th Hunger Games, barely slipping out of the Capitol's grasp, and managing to come home with Peeta Mellark, who should also be dead. Why aren't we dead?

I dare say that the Capitol is afraid of us. They're scared we might start a rebellion; an uproar in the districts. Rumors are circulating that we should brace ourselves for an attack any day now, but so far the peace has barely been upheld. We're on the brink of breaking and we can barely hold on.

People come up to me sometimes and say that I am brave. That I am so selfless to have volunteered in the place of my sister. That I am the symbol everyone is looking up to. They say that I am their hero. But I am no hero, or heroine, really. I wasn't really thinking when I volunteered in the place of Prim. All I knew was that she couldn't go to the Capitol without me putting up a fight.

I jolt awake, sweat on my brow. My hands had grabbed the sheets around me and they felt clammy. My throat felt raw, aching from the screaming. I couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up, changed my clothes, and quietly, left the house.

I now live in the Victor's Village, where only Peeta and Haymitch accompany me during the long hours of fake interviews and publicity taking place during the Victor Tour. I couldn't stand being in front of cameras, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was in the arena. Everyone watching my every move, trying to see through the holes of my so-called-star crossed romance with Peeta. And there was especially one person who would always be watching. His name was President Snow.

My only escape were the woods. I ran across the roads and approached the nearest fence that surrounded District 12. I climbed under the wires and then in that moment, I never felt more free, or to whatever extent freedom is in District 12.

I ran as fast as I could into the woods. The trees were a blur; leaves crunching under my feet as I ran. Branches snapping as I broke them out of my way. The smells of nature overwhelming me. I could smell the breakfast I would catch for when my mom and Prim wake up. I stopped in the middle of a clearing in the woods. I looked around for a slightly bent, tall wayward tree that had a makeshift hiding place I had carved out of the bark, where I hid my bow and arrow. When I was almost 2 feet away from the tree, I heard jostling. Feet pounding toward my direction from the left. On instinct, I ran and hid behind a bush. I had barely concealed myself when I saw her. Or them to be exact.

She was short and skinny with chopping blond her that barely went past her chin. She was accompanied by a tall, brooding young boy who had a cropped black hair and dangerous eyes, skimming around for danger. They both wore matching black uniforms. What struck me, was that they both had tattoos. The girl had three raven tattoos on her collarbone and two circle tattoos on each shoulder. One was of two hands joined together and the other were flames. The boy had tattoos curling around the back of his neck, which I assumed ran down the majority of his back. The only people who had tattoos that I knew of, were people from the Capitol, with their eccentric hair colors and clothes. What I didn't understand was why there were two kids, from the Capitol, running in the woods.

They weren't looking at me; they were talking in low hushed voices, backs hunched as if they were conversing secret plans. I slowly crept from my bush and brushed my hand inside the tree bark, gripping my bow and arrow. I barely had time to pull it out, when the boy spun, pulled out a gun and pointed it at my head. I flinched.

"Don't move," said the boy. "Or I'll shoot." The girl widen her eyes in surprise, but not before pulling out a knife, readying it to throw it at me.

"Who are you?" said the girl, eyeing me warily.

"I'm Glimmer" I instantly said. I don't know why I said her name. She just popped into my head because both her and the girl had blond hair.

They both looked at me in suspicion and then the girl looked over to where my hand was.

"Take your hand out. What are you hiding in there?" said the girl.

"Nothing." I said. They looked like they didn't believe me, but at that point, I didn't care because then I saw Gale, hiding behind them. Without a second thought, I put my bow in position and shot an arrow into the creek near them, sending a small splash into the air. The boy turned in surprise and gave me the opportunity to run in the opposite direction.

I sprinted, going back the way I came, nearly tripping over a log, because at that moment, my head was spinning. Why are there two kids from the capitol with a gun, running in the woods? And worse, why did they look like they've been running for a long time?

I was almost to the fence, when I was roughly shoved to the ground, falling flat on my face. It was the girl. She was half my size, but had managed to push me down with so much force, that my head felt like it was on fire. We rolled and punched, not knowing who was winning in the amount of bruises we were going to have. I found an opening and kicked her off me. I picked her up and threw her up against a tree.

"Who the hell are you?" I said through gritted teeth. I've never seen anyone fight like that from the Capitol. I didn't even think anyone from the Capitol would have left the Capitol itself, with their money and food. Unless this girl wasn't really from there.

"My name is Tris and I am your worst nightmare." And with that, she punched me in the stomach and I fell to the ground, hugging my abdomen. She kicked my side again and I rolled over. I had thought I was done for, when I saw the girl crash onto the ground as well. I was slowly losing consciousness, but not before I saw Gale's face looming over mine. "Catnip, you are so dead."

THE END OF CHAPTER 1.


	2. Trapped

TRIS:

In my dreams, I usually would see my mother and father, always so selfless. I saw my brother Caleb, bending down to help a girl pick up her fallen groceries. I saw the dull, sleek houses of Abengation with the factionless on the edges of the street. I saw my old friends at the Dauntless Compound, running and hollering out of thrill. I saw _him,_ every time, after I volunteered to be the first jumper, and landed in the net; He, ever so rough and gentle, pulled me out. Those were the dreams. But my nightmares never left me.

I was in the woods, with Tobias, swallowed by mountains of trees. We were running, but then we stopped because I heard a song. A beautiful one, it was. It sounded like a girl's whistle. I turned to see a bird perched upon a tree above us. It wasn't just any kind of bird. It was strange. Not like the ravens from my collarbone to my heart, but it had black feathers with white patches underneath their wings. What was stranger was that whenever I called out to it, it matched the exact pitch of my voice. Like it heard it before. Beatrice. Beatrice, it kept saying. NO. I am not Beatrice. I am Tris.

I looked back at Tobias to see if he heard what I heard, but he froze. His face had dropped, filled with anguish and vulnerability. Did he hear the song too? If he did, what did he hear? I told him, "This is not the time to be broken. We have to keep moving." But I had never seen his face like that before, except once. He had the same expression he wore now when he was in his fear stimulation. And our surroundings did look like a stimulation, but it didn't feel like one. This was real.

I jolt awake immediately and felt disorientated. Everything around me jumbles up and down. I look around me to see that I was on the ground of a traditional room. It reminded me of a mixture between my old room before the Choosing Ceremony and Tobias' apartment, with it's dullness and vague belongings. I suddenly felt nostalgic, reminiscing the initiate training. But that was a long time ago. Before things got political. And that's when I knew I wasn't supposed to be here.

I ran toward the door, but it was locked. My heart was thumping in my chest, against my ribs. It felt just like the time I was contained in Erudite headquarters, but with the likeness of my past. Not Tris' past, but Beatrice's past. _Tobias,_ I thought. Then I remembered. It was that girl with the bow and arrow. When Tobias and I stopped to remap where we were heading, we heard a shift behind us. We turned to find a girl, no older than 17 maybe, with her hand in the tree bark next to her. She look shocked but quickly gained composure just as quickly. It was if she had not felt any kind of emotion what so ever. But I knew better. She had that kind of face that defied authoritative figures and been through more hardships she can handle. I knew that face. I saw it every time I looked in the mirror. But the mirror was contradicting, so I never look at it when I get a chance.

I told her to take out her hand, but she squinted questioningly at us, cocking her eyebrow. She looked behind us, widened her eyes, then surprised us by swiftly pulling out a bow and notching an arrow right above my ear to the creek behind Tobias and I, spraying us in water. I wasted no time and ran after her. I attacked her, bringing us both down. I had to kill her. I couldn't risk anyone seeing Tobias and I, out there, in those foreign woods, on our secret personal mission. She was strong; much stronger than I expected. I was almost through until I felt a hard blow on my head and I fell to the ground.

Now I was locked in a barely empty room. I needed to get out of here. Wherever here was. I was about to jump off the wall and crash into the door, when it opened. A girl, with blond hair like mine, just about 14 possibly, looking nervous but not scared, put up her hands and said, "Wait! Please." But I had no patience. I roughly pushed past her, entering a kitchen of some sort. I saw a middle aged woman with blond strewn hair hanging around her, and the girl from the woods. I whirled my head in all directions, looking for an exit, but there weren't any. I looked back at the girl to see her smirking.

"You can't leave. Not until you tell me what you're doing here, in the middle of fall, behind District 12's fence. Why did the Capitol send you here? To spy on us?" said the girl.

"AGGH!" I yelled, grabbing a butter knife from the nearby table, running straight at the girl, but someone jumped right in front of her just in time, disarming me.

"There will be no knife-slitting right now-" said a brunette boy, "Not until later. Once we turn her into the peacekeepers."

"Wait, I didn't say we would turn her-" started the girl, but the boy cut her off. "We have to. She's from the Capitol. And I bet Cray would like to know why a tattoo bearing girl from the Capitol is running amok in the woods of District 12. And they're not the only ones."

He eyed me, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the girl roll her eyes upward and proceeded to walk towards me. I stumbled backwards to already find a chair behind me.

"Sit. It won't do you any good if you try to escape." said the girl. Her voice. Where have I heard her voice before? I decided to be submissive.

"What's your name, then?" I asked. "I highly doubt it was Glimmer."

She hesitated. "Katniss Ev-," she said, "It's Katniss." What was she about to say after that? Did she really not want me to know her last name? But then I considered it. Her last name must be important. It must mean something, like my last name. Prior.

"I remember your name. It's Tris." she said. She looked at me with renewed curiosity.

"Yeah, it is. Care to explain what happened after our little altercation in the woods?" I asked. Then I shot up, only to be pushed down onto the chair by the boy.

"Where's my frr-iiend? The other boy?" I asked. I didn't want to give away who Tobias really was to me. He was much more than just a friend. They all stared at me.

"We don't know. It was just me and you in that clearing when we both got knocked out." Katniss explained. I slouch back in my chair, feeling disappointed.

"Anyways, after we both got knocked out, my friend here-," She gestured to her brunette friend who smiled at me. Something about him was off.

"Who knocked me out?" I asked.

"Who do you think?" said the boy, pulling a chair across from me and proceeded to sit in it. "My name's Gale by the way. If we're not gonna say our last names, then so be it. But just to let you know, I only did what I did because you hurt my Catnip." He looked up at Katniss, only for her to look away with an angry expression although cleverly hidden. But not clever enough.

She continued, gritting her teeth. "Like I said, after we both got knocked out, my friend managed to pull us both out from the woods and back to my house. My mom patched up your bruises. Your shoulder was badly damaged but nothing we couldn't fix here with new stitches."

I rubbed my shoulder to find the bump of new stitches under my shirt. I looked down at myself, suddenly realizing I was wearing a different set of clothes. I wore mixed matched colors of gray and brown with a little of navy here and there. I looked like the factionless.

"You had to look like you belonged here or else they would have shot you on sight, including us." said Katniss.

"Why would they have shot us? Wait, don't tell me you're in the middle of a war too?" I asked, rolling my eyes. I was getting tired of blood.

"No, we're in the middle of a rebellion." said Gale. Katniss immediately shot up.

"No, we're not. We're fine. It's just how our society works. That's how the Capitol works really. They rule the districts with fear, destroying hope." I look at them like they were crazy, because I had no idea what they were talking about.

"We're separated into 12 districts. Each one contributes or makes something for the Capitol. We're in District 12 known for coal-mining." Katniss said. "It's not a very stable job." She looked at me, with a sort of regretfullness. Like if she could have done something about it, District 12 would have done anything else for their Capitol.

"There used to be a District 13, but it was completely obliterated." said Gale wistfully.

"The districts? That's awfully similar to the factions." I said, feeling like I was in whole other world. Somewhere I clearly did not belong.

"I highly doubt where you're from that you have the Hunger Games, much less the Reaping." Katniss said, with sad eyes. Terror was edged all over her.

"What's the Hunger Games?" I asked, leaning forward. I knew I was onto something because then I recalled an old conversation about what happens outside the Fence.

"President Snow, the leader of the Capitol, decreed that in order to maintain power and fear in the districts, there are to be a Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is when one boy and one girl from each district, between the ages of 12 and 18, enter the arena and fight to death on live television, _every year."_ Gale said. Katniss froze. Her eyes took on a whole new level of fear. You could practically see her veins popping on the side of her head.

"I was in the-," she started. But she never got to finish because then we heard glass breaking and a huge THUMP. We heard a gun shot and Katniss's family screamed, running farther into the house. I jumped up instantly and ran toward the sound.

"Katniss!" her sister yelled. "I'll be fine, go hide with Mom." She said. Katniss gave a quick glance back at them and followed me. Gale trailed right behind us. The house was fairly big, with hallways criss-crossing left and right. When I turned a corner, I saw Tobias, standing amid broken glass where the front door should have been. He held a gun in his hand.

"Tobias!" I yelled. I ran, throwing myself onto him. "Where have you've been? I was so worried. I-," He roughly pushed me behind him, shielding my body from Katniss and Gale, who were running toward us. Tobias raised his gun.

And fired.

END OF CHAPTER 2.


	3. Time

TRIS:

The bullet ricocheted off of the wall next to Gale. He should have shot straighter. He usually does. I looked at him, bewildered.

"Tobias, please! Look at me." I said. An arrow then all of a sudden zipped toward me in blinding speed. I had barely enough time to see Katniss with a bow and arrow notched at my head when Tobias pushed me out of the way and knocked us both down.

"Go." He said simply. He pulled me up and out through the door frame, grabbed my hand, and dragged me across a field of houses. I felt weak, a headache throbbing in my head; stiffness in my shoulder.

The houses were placed in a U formation and there was a gate in the front. Victor's Village, it said. We ran straight through it. I was running blindly, unaware of where he was taking me. I looked back for a second to see if Katniss and Gale followed us. They weren't there. I don't know if I'm supposed to be glad that they couldn't keep up or angry that Tobias interrupted me trying to get information about this seemingly different world.

We ran across, what seemed to be an empty market place, a soldier meeting area. There were soldiers in sleek, built white uniforms that looked like body armor, patrolling the grounds. Peacekeepers, I thought. Tobias stopped me behind a run down house. We crouched down, trying to catch our breath.

"Where the hell are we going?" I asked. I wanted to go back. We could have had some security, a place to stay for a night or two.

"We're going back into the woods. We have to head to this place, remember?" he said. He pulled out a paper map that had quick, sketch drawing that consisted of a big circular section with train tracks surrounding it, like a big city. There were indicated rectangles that represented skyscrapers. One labelled President Snow. Another labelled Plutarch Heavensbee. In the middle of the map, a building was drawn with circular standings around it. Soldiers. There were roads out of the building, interconnecting with different houses along the way and then ending at the borders of the map. It looked like any ordinary map besides the strange names. I recognized President Snow's name because of Katniss. Then out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a star on one of the houses far right, almost hanging off of the map. It's label was Cinna.

I looked up at him. There were a scar at his lip and a couple of scratches on his forehead. The circles under his eyes were more prominent than usual.

"How long?" I asked. He looked at me in understanding.

"Since you ran after the girl in the woods. You probably didn't realize it but you ran a lot farther than you thought." he said. The corners of his eyes started to crinkle. "I couldn't keep up."

I laughed nervously. "No surprise."

He grew serious again. He squeezed my shoulders. "Don't ever run away like that again. As many times as I tell you, you never listen. At least next time, tell me so I can follow." His eyes were desperate. Worried.

"Okay." I said softly. We locked eyes for perhaps a minute or two. He stretched out his hand to pull me into a kiss and right before our lips met, I hesitated.

"What is it?" he asked, questionably.

"That house you broke into, that's where Katniss lived." I said. He raised his eyebrows. "The girl. Her name is Katniss."

"How'd you find out her name? Let me guess, tying her down? Shooting her arm? Straight up attacking her?" he asked. I turned away.

"I sat in a chair and she told me." I couldn't look at him.

"Really?" He asked. I nodded, feeling both bothered that I was so submissive and that he couldn't accept that I had common sense. I was about to tell him just how bothered I was, until we heard shouting coming from the direction of the soldiers. We peered a little out behind the house and saw the peacekeepers running toward the direction we ran from.

That means Katniss and Gale were going to get caught sooner or later. I didn't know how I felt about that. But I shoved that thought deep in the back of my mind. I had already felt the clocking ticking silently in my head. Tick, tock, tick tock. We were running out of time.

Without thinking, I grabbed Tobias's hand and continued running toward the woods. We raced and jumped over barrels and boxes. We ran around houses, quickly and quietly avoiding people. Out in front of us, laid the electric fence. Tobias once said that the fence was similar to where we lived. The Factions. Wrought around, closing us in, charged with electric power. The leaders told us it was to protect us.

Fools. If only they saw this.

We reached the fence. Tobias climbed in between the wires first and then turned around to help me when we heard shouts. I turned and saw the peacekeepers yelling and pointing something at us. Guns.

Tobias immediately pulled a gun out and shot at the nearest peacekeeper heading our way. He swirled to my left and shot another peacekeeper. Straight through the heart. More shouts and yells were coming. Some held up tasers, releasing little sparks of electricity here and there. What is this place?

He pulled me over the wires and hand in hand, we disappeared into the woods.

END OF CHAPTER 3.

**Author's Note:** Sorry that this chapter was so short. I've been extremely busy, especially with exams so sorry for the late update! But pay attention closely to the hints I've dropped. It might hint to what's coming in the next chapters and what this story is truly about. Thanks so much!


	4. Chase

KATNISS:

"They ran that way!" I yelled. I pointed to the entrance to the Victor's Village. I could see their silhouettes running farther and farther from us. I started to run in that direction when Gale pulled my arm back from the front door.

"No," Gale looked shocked and surprisingly, scared. "The peacekeepers are patrolling the Hob. Let them take care of Tris and her friend."

I swirled, crushing glass under my feet. "What? No! We have to find out what's going on. Something's happening, Gale. Something big."

"It's not our business Katniss!" Gale spitted at me. I glared at him. He never holds me back. When did I get so reckless and he got so careful?

"Fine, then let me go," I yanked my arm back from him and headed back into my kitchen. "Prim? Mom?" I shouted. "In here!"

I rounded the corner and saw what a mess Tris has made. There was the guest room door, hanging off of two hinges. A butter knife skewed on the table and bullet holes on the walls. I walked around, to see my mom and Prim crouched behind the guest room door.

"Are you alright?" Prim asked immediately. I touched her face and let go a breath of relief. "Yes."

My mom stood up, a pale face against her dirty blond hair. "What happened? Katniss, the peacekeepers could have heard the big noise coming from here. Just because you won last year, doesn't mean they won't hesitate to kill us." I stared at her. "And you, of course." She added quickly.

I looked away from her and turned my face towards Prim. "Her friend from the woods arrived, unexpectedly. We should have saw it coming. He shot a bullet at Gale but it bounced off the wall next to him instead. He looked like an excellent marksman," I moved away. "Apparently not."

"What are we going to do now?" Prim asked, "The peacekeepers surely heard us from the Hob. They'll come. And you know it." I looked at her and saw not the face of the terrified girl from a year ago, afraid of the mere thought of the Hunger Games, but the determined face of a girl who knew that being weak was not an option anymore. How funny that we switched places.

"Clean up. While you do that, I'm going to run to Peeta's. I have to tell him about Tris."

What I didn't tell them was that I needed Peeta now, more than anything. He would make sense of this. He always does.

They proceeded to sweep up the broken glass and fix the door. I turned around to see Gale standing there with his arms crossed. "You know, you could thank me." Gale said. "For what? For not letting me go after Tris because, yeah, I'm really grateful." I rolled my eyes. He knew how big this was. Two kids running loosely in the woods of District 12 who were neither Capitol or District was something unheard of.

"No. For saving your life back there." I raised an eyebrow. "In the woods. You never thanked me. Let's not mention that knife Tris was going to stab you with."

I replied back, "Thank you, I guess." I walked around him, leaving him standing there before he could see my anger on my face. I was already too mad at him for holding me back. _  
_

"Wait, Katniss." I stopped, picking up my bow and arrow that I dropped, midfight with Tris. "Yes?"

"Why? Why do you care about them so much?" He asked. I turned to look back at him. We stood almost two feet away from each other, each of our presences hard and cold in the hallway. "Would you not want to know? I thought you were all for curiosity." I asked.

He looked hurt, almost betrayed. "But they're from the Capitol! What would you want anything to do with the Capitol? They took everything away from us. They took _you_ away from me." I shook my head.

"But I'm still here."

I stepped through, what was supposed to be my front door, and ran across the outcropping of houses. It was placed in a classic U formation and many of the houses were empty, except for three. It seemed kind of lonely, but I had gotten used to the emptiness in the Victor's Village. Peeta's house was directly across from mine, its roof slanting dangerously. I ran across the space between our houses, knocking on his door.

"Peeta! Peeta! Open the door! Open th-," I yelled, until the door creaked open by itself. I stepped through, my feet echoing on the wooden floors, to find Peeta's family sitting at the dinner table, cutting up loaves of bread. They all looked up at me, with haunted eyes.

"Where's Peeta?" I whispered. I could sense the apprehension. They never liked me, not then. Not now. I remember, starving and desperate for food. Only Peeta had the compassion to throw me a loaf of bread. And I didn't even realize he had a crush on me.

Peeta's mom narrowed her eyes and marched up to me.

"He's at Haymitch's. You ought to never come here again, girl. He's never home. He's always there _for you!" _She yells, causing me to stumble back on my feet. "My boy. Oh my poor boy."

She had tears brimming in her eyes and I could see her pain, written in the fine wrinkles of her face. I thought she didn't love him. Strange ways people show love a now these days. "I'm sorry," I said and I turned back around. Even through my heavy steps, I hear Peeta's mom murmur. "What did Peeta _ever_ see in her? She's a waste of his time. He should be at home, helping me..." The farther I walk away from the house, the less I could hear.

I quickly jog to Haymitch's house, running up his front steps. I feel something wet on my cheeks; when I touch my face, I realize it was tears. I hadn't even noticed how much his mom's words impacted me, let alone what Gale had said earlier. By the time I turned the door knob and walked into the house, my hands were shaking. _It's okay. It's going to be okay.  
_

"Peeta!" I yell out. No answer. There was a stingy odor in the air, like alcohol. I knew Haymitch was on his usual but I didn't think he would drink this early in the day. I was about to call out for Peeta again, when I felt a pull on my right arm and I was swept aside from the main hallway to a closed off corridor.

It was Peeta. His sun-kissed blond hair was longer and messier. He looked more rugged too with a look of thoughtfulness on his face. "Katniss, quiet down. Haymitch fell asleep drinking."

"Peeta," I said. He stared back with a look-as if he was scanning my face for something, for nightmares. "You too?"

"Yeah," he replied. He knew exactly what I was talking about. The unspeakable truth of the horrors from the Arena. Peeta looked a little off, disheveled; his shirt wrinkled. "What brings you here so early in the day?"

I proceeded to tell him about my altercation in the woods with Tris and her friend. How we both got shoulder-shacked on Gale's shoulders and brought back to my house for healing. I also told him about my interrogation with Tris and how she knew nothing of the Capitol or the Hunger Games. I shifted my feet quite a few times when I mentioned her friend was armed and shot at us.

"What did she look like?" Both me and Peeta jumped. We turned to see Haymitch standing, well sort of, against the wall, clutching a tequila bottle in his hand. He looked worse than usual. His eyes were bloodshot and his breath smelled of expired alcohol. "Well, aren't you two going to answer me or are you going to stand there, waiting for your deaths?" We all flinched. Haymitch realized his mistake and muttered a half-hearted apology, turning back to his living room. We followed him.

"What do you mean our deaths?" Peeta asked.

"Well, according to Katniss here, she made quite the noise this morning. Someone from the Hob surely heard her and sold her out to the peacekeepers." Haymitch answered, taking another swig.

"Then we have no time to waste. I have to find them." I said, putting my hands on the table.

"Tell me what she looks like first." Haymitch said, readying himself for another swallow when I snatched the bottle out of his hands.

"Short, skinny like Prim with choppy blond hair. She was accompanied with a boy. Both bore tattoos and wore black clothes when they first arrived. Nothing significant from the Capitol." I described the tattoos to both of them.

"They can't possibly be from the Capitol. They sound like ordinary people." Peeta exclaimed.

Haymitch laughed a guttural sound. "Ha, I wouldn't cut the Capitol any slack regarding tattoos. They're crazy enough to do anything. What I find interesting is this girl, Tris, you said?" He stretched his arm over for another cup of tequila. I slapped his hand away. "She seems to be heading somewhere if she was in such a rush to get out of there."

"So what do we do?" I asked.

"I don't know cupcake, but I can't go with you. She needs me." He said, nodding to the tequila bottle with a look of affection.

"I say we follow them." Peeta said.

I turned to look at him, hope filling in my chest. "Me and you, yeah?" I asked. I realize how dangerous this would be, but for weeks me and Peeta hadn't talked. Barely a glance at my direction sometimes. This might change that.

"Let's go befo-" I stopped talking. From a distance, I heard shouts and running. _Oh no. _

I ran to Haymitch's window to see peacekeepers running straight towards the house. Towards us. "Peacekeepers are coming! Go, Peeta! Run!" I yelled. I pushed him out towards the back door, grabbing my bow and arrow, pulling the straps around my shoulders and under my left arm.

"Oh don't worry about me, Katniss. Just here, waiting for them to come shoot me!" Haymitch exclaimed, getting up slowly from his chair, swaying on his legs.

"You can't come with us! You're drunk!" I said.

"Katniss. I got him." I turned to see Peeta already pulling Haymitch out the back door and throwing him up onto his back, almost like giving him a piggy-back ride. We ran as fast as we could. I was mildly aware of heavy steps following us, so I pulled Peeta towards the big hill of the District, picking up our pace.

_Prim. Mom,_ I thought. _Gale._ They won't be safe. My running faltered for a bit, which was a mistake because then one peacekeeper seized my arm back and pulled me to the ground. I grabbed his taser and snuck it under the fault point in his armor. He shook with the shock of electricity and fell down the hill. I ran back up.

I was panting. I hadn't even realized me going to a state of post traumatic stress resulted in my loss of stamina. Peeta was doing a lot better than me, even with considering he was hauling Haymitch on his back. I guided us to the opening of the electric fence anyways and then stopped. All around the fence laid dead peacekeepers with bullet holes straight through the chest where the heart should have been. Tris and her friend were here. They went to the woods, of course.

I let Peeta go under first, helping him push Haymitch through the wires. Lucky for us, the electric fence hasn't been wired to charge for a long time.

We sped up past the field, melting into the trees with no peacekeepers to tell on us. They all laid out with their dead hearts open to the morning sun.

END OF CHAPTER 4.

**Author's note:** Super sorry for the extremely late update. I've been stuck with writer's block for a couple of weeks plus my procrastination getting the best of me. I hope you enjoy this chapter, ending with yet another cliffhanger. How exhilarating to know that they are on a sort of a duck and goose chase. Fun times ahead...

Drop a comment and/or thoughts. Would love to know your predictions. (:


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